Louis Armstrong Play Satchmo at the Waldorf, With John Douglas Thompson, Arrives Off-Broadway Feb. 15

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15 Feb 2014

John Douglas Thompson

Photo by Kevin Sprague

John Douglas Thompson repeats his performance in the New York premiere of Terry Teachout's one-man Louis Armstrong play Satchmo at the Waldorf, which begins previews Feb. 15 at the Westside Theatre.

Thompson starred in the Long Wharf Theatre and Shakespeare and Company productions of Satchmo at the Waldorf, both of which played acclaimed, extended engagements.

Long Wharf Theatre artistic director Gordon Edelstein again directs. Satchmo at the Waldorf will officially open March 4.

Here's how the play is billed: "In March of 1971, one of the greatest music legends the world would ever know was performing the final set of shows he would ever play at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel. But the audiences who adored him onstage never really saw the man behind the trumpet. In Terry Teachout's searing and surprisingly intimate play, Satchmo at the Waldorf, we encounter Louis Armstrong where few ever had the chance to see him: backstage. Reflecting on his own unlikely career amidst a rapidly changing society, the icon is stripped bare, revealing complexities and contradictions that his omnipresent smile, horn and handkerchief belied. Critically acclaimed actor John Douglas Thompson, seamlessly morphing between Armstrong, his manager Joe Glaser, and fellow trumpeter Miles Davis, gives one of the most vivid portraits ever created for the stage."

Thompson starred in the Wilma staging of Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, which won him a Barrymore Award in 2004. He has also appeared at the Goodman Theatre in The Iceman Cometh. He played Richard III at Shakespeare & Co. in 2010, and won an OBIE for his portrayal of Othello in a 2009 production at Theater for a New Audience.

This is Teachout's first play. He's better known as the drama critic for The Wall Street Journal.